Victims lose it all, for companies it’s business as usual

28 December 2004

The death toll continue to rise and reams are being written about the enormity of the tragedy that struck parts of South India on Sunday. However, the economic impact of the tragedy doesn’t seem to match the scale of death and destruction. For corporate India, the negative fall-out is expected to at most marginal. "The people and households affected by the disaster were so poor that they hardly consumed any manufactured goods," is the common refrain in corporate India.

Cement makers who otherwise do a brisk business in the aftermath natural disasters thanks to reconstruction are however not so optimistic this time. "The people whose houses got destroyed in the tsunami are so poor that, they could hardly afford to buy cement. They will rebuild their houses with thatched roofs. Unless government pays them for building concrete houses, which is very unlikely," said a local cement maker.